Activiti is published by the producer of ECM, Alfresco, which wanted to develop an alternative to jBPM for its own purposes. In electing to make it a stand-alone component, Alfresco is banking on the dynamic nature of open source (the product has been handed over to the Spring community) and aims to make it the benchmark for open source BPM. Technically, Activiti is at the cutting edge and enjoys excellent dynamics thanks to the widespread popularity of its sponsor.

jBPM is developed by a community with the support of JBoss. As the benchmark for open source BPM in recent years, many software companies have integrated jBPM with their solutions. The product does currently suffer from a lack of community dynamics. The latest version is promising though, and the product remains a key technical BPM brick for projects, particularly in open source environments.

The team developing OroCRM open source customer relationship management has just unveiled the functionalities for the 2.0 version’s major update. What they are delivering: the first landmark stage for integrating the OroCommerce solution with the B2B eCommerce platform and improved interoperability of the platform’s solutions.

At a time when the phrase, “public policy evaluation”, has never been so popular, the French Minister of Economy and Finance is struggling to assess the impact of the Ayrault Circular Letter on open source software.

The recently published Dice/Linux Foundation report on employment in the world of open source software yields two major conclusions: demand for open source skill sets is on the rise, and European companies are struggling to hire experienced professionals.